Open Digital Europe

Social Businesses

Out of the Box International works with already existing hubs, various local and national stakeholders and social entrepreneurs in order to further develop and promote successful social entrepreneurship policies and practices.

Solidarity Europe

European Project

Out of the Box International works further to enhance current cooperation in South East Europe region and actively supports the integration of all European countries in common European project.

“Decent work Conference” in the EP

April 18, 2019

Out of the Box International has organised a panel discussion “Decent Work: different definitions – different challenges”. The event was co-organised with MEP Ivo Vajgl, ALDE (Slovenia). The panel took place on Wednesday 10th April, from 9:30 to 12:30 in the European Parliament. The discussion moderator was Marko Paunovic, Director of Out of the Box – International and welcome remarks were presented by the host MEP Ivo Vajgl.

After the he project was presented by Virginia Fernández from UGT-CEC, Marta Lima presented the report “Decent Work of young people and EU instruments”. In the first round table titled “Struggling to define and ensure decent work” we had Ignacio Doreste, European Trade Union Confederation and Diana Filip, Deputy CEO and VP for Marketing and Development, JA Europe as speakers. In the second part “New EU instruments and how to ensure more efficient protection of young people at work within the EU 2021-2027” Mariana Georgallis from DG EMPLY European Commission and Tea Jarc from Mladi Plus, Trade Union (Slovenia) took the floor. After and between these two panels there was an open discussion with the audience. The event was attended by 40 participants.

During this event it was discussed how decent work has been perceived both in different EU Member States and at EU level and what the consequences and policy implications are, especially to young people. This discussion was conducted in English among participants from the European Parliament, the European Commission, NGOs, SMEs and young people with the aim to explore further possibilities of supporting social partners in advocating for decent work conditions for young people across the EU. It was highlighted that empowering young people means prividing young people with tools and capabilities to choose freely a career and exercise their fundamental right to social inclusion and equality in participating in all aspects of society, particularly in work life. Empowering young people for decent work, requires giving more visibility to youth realities when finding a job, with all its variability and diversity, as well as reinforcing young people’s ability to defend their fundamental rights and exercise their freedom. On this occasion Youth Employment Initiative was presented together with the Youth Guarantee, as one of the main EU financial resources to support the Youth unemployment. The discussion further continued on the topic of “decent work” ways to take action for the promotion of decent work.

In the end it was concluded that Effective integration in labour market measures cannot be reduced merely to training or apprenticeships. In order to promote access and participation in work life and to be able to integrate a young person in the work force, integrated personalized approaches are needed. Both the diversity and heterogeneous characteristics of European youth, as well as the lapse of time that has gone by – scaring former-motivated young Europeans without a real effective change – need to be faced and worked upon. The involvement of NGO’s, civil society organizations and youth workers, already knowledgeable of young people’s unemployment and NEET’s situation and able to reach those invisible to public institutions, is long overdue. “To empower young people to decent work is to give them back the freedom of choice.”

Why Out of the Box International

The seemingly ever-lasting depression of European economies has shaken the very foundations of many European societies. The shear rate of unemployment in Europe and the omnipresent environmental crisis coupled with the often frustratingly slow process of decision making in the EU, are calling for civil society actors to step in and fill the void.

In the aftermath of the 2008. economic crisis, the apprehension of falling under the spell of apathy of economic depression across the continent has not been easy to shake off. However, pinpointing the culprits for the current state of affairs on any particular EU decision maker is not the answer. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the current approach to the economic and environmental crisis hasn’t yet shown the affected citizens the light at the end of the tunnel.

As representatives of the civil society we feel the need to make our voice heard in the midst of the current debate on economic crisis. Being a social enterprise we offer new and feasible ideas in education and community work, creative cross-sectorial cooperation among different actors and strong networking coalitions to turn these dire economic challenges into possibilities through social entrepreneurship initiatives which aim at benefiting wide range of citizens, particularly vulnerable groups and those affected by the economic crisis.

Social entrepreneurship is a simple concept that has been put into practice by civil society actors for the benefit of a specific social group or people, and this is precisely what we want: to create projects and initiatives with fresh ideas in different policies, educational programs or tools, support businesses, empower cultural initiatives and offer different solutions to individuals, corporate bodies, everybody who believe that we can have more Creative, Innovative and Cohesive Europe.